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KalidasaThe Recognition of Sakuntala
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 400A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Acts IV-VChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act IV Summary
Anusuya and Priyamvada gather flowers. Anasuya is happy that Sakuntala’s secret wedding to Dusyanta has worked out, but fears Dusyanta may forsake Sakuntala once he returns to the city. Priyamvada dismisses Priyamvada’s fears, for men like Dusyanta “don’t belie their appearance” (43). Priyamvada is more afraid of Father Kanva’s reaction to the news of Sakuntala’s love-match.
A man’s voice booms offstage. It is a visitor announcing himself at the entrance to the ashram. Priyamvada and Anasuya decide to hurry back to welcome the guest, as Sakuntala may be too preoccupied with thoughts of Dusyanta to heed the guest. The voice, which belongs to the powerful and hot-tempered sage Durvasa, declares that Sakuntala has slighted a guest. Durvasas curses Sakuntala by declaring that, just as she forgot to attend to him, may the man of whom she dreams forget her too. Anasuya asks Priyamvada to rush to Durvasas and plead for mercy for Sakuntala. Priyamvada exits and returns.
Priyamvada tells Anasuya that she managed to extract a “sliver of compassion” (44) from the difficult sage. When she entreated him to forgive Sakuntala, Durvasas replied that he couldn’t unspeak (and thus reverse) his words, but the sight of a memento would lift the curse. Priyamvada and Anasuya are relieved, since Dusyanta gave his signet ring as a memento to Sakuntala. When the time of the curse comes, Sakuntala should be able to show Dusyanta the ring and rejog his memory. The friends glance at Sakuntala seated at a distance, lost in thoughts of Dusyanta and unaware of the arrival and departure of Durvasa. They decide not to tell her of the curse lest it frighten her.
Kanva’s pupil Viskambhaka enters, announcing the return of the sage to the ashram. Viskambhaka notes that Sakuntala is haunted by the grief of love. Anasuya notes in an aside that Dusyanta has behaved badly toward the innocent Sakuntala by marrying her in haste and in secret. Anasuya exits and reenters the stage, indicating the passage of time. She says that Dusyanta has not written a single letter to Sakuntala since he left, and is proving as faithless as she suspected. Anasuya does not know what to do, since Sakuntala is pregnant with Dusyanta’s child.
Just then, a joyful Priyamvada enters. She tells Anasuya they are to prepare for Sakuntala’s departure as a bride from the ashram. Sakuntala is to go to Dusyanta’s capital. When Kanva learned the news of Sakuntala’s pregnancy, he hugged her happily and said he would send her to her husband’s city with a party of seers. Kanva was told of Sakuntala’s marriage and pregnancy by the heavens themselves; when he entered the place the sacrificial fire is kept, a voice told him his daughter bears “for the world’s welfare” (47), the “lustrous seed of King Dusyanta” (47). Priyamvada and Anasuya rejoice, though their joy is clouded by sadness at Sakuntala’s impending departure. They begin preparing simple ornaments for her.
Sakuntala enters with Gautami and the other hermit women. The women bless Sakuntala in turns with auspicious rice, wishing Sakuntala’s husband grants her the title of “Great Queen” (47) and reveres her. Priyamvada and Anasuya anoint Sakuntala with paste and oils, wishing they had more elaborate jewelry for her. Two ascetics enter, carrying a chest full of fine cloth and ornaments studded with precious jewels. Kanva had sent them to the forest to gather flowers to adorn Sakuntala. They found that the very trees gave fruits of jewels and moon-white silken cloth for Sakuntala. The women dress up Sakuntala as they have seen women dressed in paintings.
Kanva enters, fresh from his ritual bath. He is sorrowful at the thought of Sakuntala’s departure. If an ascetic like him so dreads the separation from his child, how much worse would “worldly fathers feel” (49), he wonders. Sakuntala, now adorned, greets Kanva. Kanva blesses her that may she bear her husband as worthy an heir as the famed Sharmistha bore for King Yayati. Kanva summons Sakuntala and the others to circumambulate the holy fire, chanting Vedic mantras. He asks Gautami and his pupil Sarngarava to prepare to accompany Sakuntala to the city. Kanva addresses the trees of the grove, asking them to bless Sakuntala, who did not herself ever drink water before watering the plants.
A voice, as if nature personified, speaks from the grove, blessing Sakuntala. Everyone is astonished at the phenomenon. Gautami asks Sakuntala to bow to the trees, since the goddesses of the grove have showered benedictions on her. Sakuntala bids the trees and the ascetics farewell, asking her friends to look after Light of the Forest, her favorite vine, in her absence. She asks Kanva to send news when the pregnant doe to whom Sakuntala recently attended, delivers fawns. Everyone weeps and walks toward the shore of the lake. The ascetics tell Kanva he can go no further, as it is said one must accompany those whom they love no further than the water’s edge.
Kanva gives Sarngarava a message for Dusyanta. Dusyanta should treat Sakuntala fairly, on par with his other wives. The rest is fate. Kanva advises Sakuntala to never oppose and always obey Dusyanta, as behooves a “proper wife” (53). Sakuntala laments being separated from her father and friends, but Kanva reassures her that once she is busy in stately affairs at the palace, the pangs of separation will fade. When Sakuntala has been a queen for many years and raised her son with Dusyanta to maturity, she and Dusyanta will return permanently to the ashram and dwell in the “green calm” (55) of the sacred grove. Sakuntala touches Kanva’s feet as a mark of respect and exits with Sarngarava and Gautami.
Left behind, Anasuya and Priyamvada are inconsolable. Kanva comforts the women and asks them to return to the ashram with him. He says that though he is sad at Sakuntala’s departure, he is also relieved at having married her off. He feels at peace, like the debtor who has repaid a longstanding loan
Act V Summary
In Dusyanta’s court in the city, the king and Madhavya listen to a song emanating from the music room. The lady Hamsapadika, one of Dusyanta’s queens, is singing a song about someone whose affection is fickle, shifting from the sickly lotus bloom to the mango flower. Dusyanta thinks Hamsapadika, to whom he made love once, is chiding him secretly for his affection for Queen Vasumati. He asks Madhavya to convey to Hamsapadika that he has been soundly reproached. Madhavya comically prays for his well-being, since the lady is sure to grab his hair in anger when he delivers Dusyanta’s message.
After Madhavya exits, Dusyanta wonders why Hamsapadika’s song fills him with sorrow, since he has never been separated from a loved one. Perhaps the song’s universal appeal moves him. Dusyanta remains frozen in bewilderment. A chamberlain enters and tells the preoccupied Dusyanta that ascetics from Sage Kanva’s ashram are here to see the king. Dusyanta bids the ascetics be welcomed with the appropriate rituals. He heads to the fire-sanctuary, where the ascetics will be welcomed, musing that being a responsible king is lonely and exhausting. Bards sing off-stage that a good king is like a tree which withstands the sun to give shade to his people.
The ascetics enter, Sakuntala at the front. The ascetics are repulsed by the clamor and permissiveness of the city. Sakuntala’s right eyelid trembles, which is an ill omen. Gautami reassures Sakuntala. The ascetic party and Dusyanta meet.
Dusyanta wonders about the identity of the veiled Sakuntala, her beauty almost buried by her face-covering. However, he dare not look closer, as it is improper to stare at a married woman. Sarngarava reads out Kanva’s message, asking Dusyanta to welcome the wife he married in secret and honor her soon-to-be-born child.
Dusyanta expresses shock, and denies knowing Sakuntala. Sakuntala speaks in an aside that her heart had dreaded this very moment. Sarngarava tells Dusyanta that power has corrupted his morals and made him deny Sakuntala. To himself Dusyanta notes that he has no memory of marrying the flawless Sakuntala. He does not know what to do next. An irate Sarngarava asks Dusyanta not to accept Sakuntala as the king has insulted Kanva by denying the gift of that which he himself stole (as in, Kanva’s daughter).
Sakuntala says to herself that it is no use reminding Dusyanta of anything as he has changed terribly. However, to clear her honor, she addresses the king, reminding him that he disowns her with the same words with which he once seduced her in the forest. Dusyanta shuts his ears with his palms and tells Sakuntala she is sullying her own name to dishonor him. Sakuntala decides to show Dusyanta his signet ring as proof of their union, but is astonished to see the ring is no longer on her finger.
Gautami tells Sakuntala the ring must have slipped off when Sakuntala took a bath at a river during their journey. Dusyanta remarks that Gautami’s statement is an example of “women’s proverbial quick-thinking” (64). Sakuntala tries to make Dusyanta remember her by sharing a memory. At the hermitage, Dusyanta had commented that a little fawn, Sakuntala’s adopted son, drank water only from her hands because both of them were alike, “forest creatures” (64). Dusyanta dismisses Sakuntala’s words and declares women are devious, using honeyed words to trap young men.
Sakuntala grows angry and calls Dusyanta wicked. Dusyanta notes to himself that Sakuntala’s anger seems righteous, as if he really has wronged her, yet he cannot recall anything about their shared past. Sarngarava laments secret unions such as that of Sakuntala and Dusyanta. Innocent women give away their hearts to devious creatures without consulting their families, and suffer betrayal. The ascetics prepare to leave, but do not want to take Sakuntala with them. Now that her name has been sullied, she cannot stay in the house of Kanva. Sakuntala is stung at the dismissal. Gautami pleads on her behalf, but the male ascetics say she must stay at her husband’s house.
Dusyanta asks the court priest for advice. The priest suggests Sakuntala should stay with him till the end of her pregnancy. Since it has been prophesied that Dusyanta’s son will bear the marks of a world-conqueror, his birth should prove or disprove Sakuntala’s claim. A weeping Sakuntala exits with the priest.
The priest returns and tells Dusyanta that Sakuntala began to lament her fate when Kanva’s pupils left. Just then, close to the shrine of the nymph, a woman’s light-shrouded form appeared and whisked Sakuntala away. The king asks his attendants to lead him away as he is filled with anguish and doubt. He fears Sakuntala’s claim may have been true.
Acts IV-V Analysis
Acts IV and V constitute the climax of the play, in which its central conflict peaks and the action becomes especially tense. Act IV is pertinent because it gives Sakuntala more of a voice than before, yet also highlights the conflicted position of women in the text’s society. The motif of journeys is reinforced in the form of Sakuntala’s passage from the world of the hermitage, and the theme of Nature’s Purity Versus Urban Corruption is explored in greater depth. The plot device and motif of the signet ring gains further importance, as does the symbolism of signs and omens (See: Symbols & Motifs).
Act IV opens on a note of foreboding, foreshadowing Sakuntala’s fate in Dusyanta’s capital. Time has elapsed between Acts III and IV, and Anasuya already fears the charms of the urban life may cause Dusyanta to forsake Sakuntala. Anasuya expresses her fear even before the pivotal event of Durvasas’s curse, which adds to the ominous mood predominating this section of the play. Durvasas’s curse occurs offstage, indicated by a voice. The overheard or offstage voice is a prominent feature of classical Sanskrit theater, and was considered the right instrument, as per The Natyashastra (See: Background), to depict certain actions, such as those involving violence, erotic consummation, or tragic occurrences. Additionally, the overheard voice also served as a framing and narrative device to portray several actions simultaneously, to present the action in a concise fashion, and to segue between acts, locations, and time periods.
Durvasas’s curse is a plot device unique to Kalidasa’s Sakuntala, and missing from the original tale. It helps retain the dramatic tension in the story while also cementing Dusyanta’s role as an ultimately blameless, romantic hero. Shifting the blame from Dusyanta to the curse would have enabled audiences to empathize better with the hero: In the original tale, Dusyanta pretends to forget Sakuntala to prove their mutual love before his people. The curse of Durvasas is an example of the importance of the spoken and written word. Once said, a sage’s word cannot be unsaid, and must be fulfilled in one way or the other. The power of words is often referenced in the play, such as when Sakuntala accuses Dusyanta of leading her astray with his “honeyed” words, and praises Priyamvada—literally, “the one who speaks charming words”—for her oratorial skills.
Sakuntala’s parting from Kanva, Anasuya, and Priyamvada signals her moving from the pure, idyllic world of nature to the corrupt realm of the city. This move from the private and pastoral to the urban and material foreshadows a reversal of fates for Sakuntala. The pain of Sakuntala’s farewell highlights her prime position in Kanva’s household. As a single woman and a daughter, Sakuntala was treated as an individual; however, marriage both elevates and degrades her social status. Even as Kanva mourns Sakuntala’s departure, he notes that an unmarried daughter is a “loan” (55), and exhorts her to “be of service to your elders, friendly to [Dusyanta’s] other wives / Even if your lord offends you / suppress your anger” (53). While marriage is an essential elevation in social status for a woman, it also limits her individualism, circumscribing her actions according to the rules set for a wife and a mother.
In Act V, Durvasas’s curse has already taken hold of Dusyanta, as is indicated when he cannot trace the source of his melancholy on hearing a song of parted lovers, invoking the theme of Memory and Forgetting. The Dusyanta of Act V is markedly different from the Dusyanta of the grove, showing the schism between the private self and the public, courtly persona. While Dusyanta had promised to Sakuntala that he would not love another woman in Act III, here there is a reference to two of Dusyanta’s existing wives, one of whom sings a song accusing him of neglect and fickleness. This shows a divergence between Dusyanta’s words and actions.
Sakuntala’s rebuttal of Dusyanta in Act V after he rejects her is one of the most important speeches in the play. It establishes the quiet Sakuntala as a character with a keen sense of human nature, and shows the economy and precision with which she expresses her rage. When the ascetics ask her to convince Dusyanta of their union, she says in an aside, “What’s the use in reminding him, when passion can change so monstrously?” (64). Sakuntala knows there is no use arguing with Dusyanta, as his behavior is irrational. When she does question him, it is to defend herself against charges of lying. Sakuntala’s measured and powerful words are juxtaposed against Dusyanta’s rasher accusations.
After Dusyanta dismisses Sakuntala’s and the sage Gautami’s words as examples of the “natural cunning” (65) of women, Sakuntala finally bursts into anger, telling Dusyanta, “You see everything through the distorted lens of your own heart” (65). The dialogue between Sakuntala and Dusyanta in this section is filled with asides and interjections to reflect Dusyanta’s tortured and confused state of mind. On the one hand, Dusyanta utters harsh words against Sakuntala, on the other, he is moved by Sakuntala’s anger, which makes “[him] doubt [him]self” (66). Dusyanta’s confusion establishes for the audience that his mind is truly unable to remember Sakuntala, though his heart is another matter. The confrontation scene illustrates the complex nature of remembrance—what the conscious mind forgets, the subconscious retains.
Dusyanta’s forsaking of Sakuntala is presented as an outright act of injustice. The rejection is accompanied by statements which are sexist by modern standards; however, Dusyanta’s statements about the wiles of women would be commonplace in the era the play was composed. More problematic is the male ascetics’ rejection of Sakuntala. Even though they know Sakuntala is virtuous, they cannot take her back to the ashram because of her now-stained reputation. Sakuntala’s fate is to “bear slavery / at [her] husband’s hearth” (67). This again exposes the paradox at the heart of the social institution of marriage: While it elevates a woman’s status, it also limits her agency.
When Sakuntala entreats her hermitage-kinsfolk to take her back, Sarngarava angrily replies, “Presumptuous girl! What do you want? Independence?” (67). Independence would mean loss of support from father and husband, which would leave a woman at the mercy of the larger world. The implied threat of Sarngarava’s words frightens Sakuntala into submission, but the dilemma she presents remains unanswered. The off-stage divine intervention of Sakuntala’s mother—Maneka, the celestial nymph—ensures that Sakuntala does not have to undergo further ordeals, emphasizing the tensions between Human Agency and Divine Fate in resolving Sakuntala’s dilemma.
